Randoms.

Just a little Friday morning randomness...

1. Jeremy is busy this weekend and next cramming for his second CMA exam scheduled for Monday, the 29th, so I get to head to Dallas next weekend to spend it being lazy (our fave, right??) with my BFF Becky!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited - how long has it been? Please don't tell me since October for your birthday? Maybe my memory is failing me and I'm missing a weekend you came into town? Anyway, B is a teacher so I feel like I at least need to take advantage of one of us having a real summer break! Even though B has been teaching summer school, poor thing. I think it will be close to being over when I visit, though. So that is fun!

2. I'm just having one.of.those.weeks. Everything upsets me, nothing is good enough, I feel generally unhappy. This new (can I still call it new?) job is very humbling for me, getting laid off is still very fresh in my mind, and my self confidence has just taken a huge hit since April. And if someone says "honey, can you print this for me?" one more time my eyes will explode. Plus our project here is very high profile and we're about to head offshore to start work on Tuesday, so I am a little stressed about all the work that has to come together quickly... Not that I am complaining about having a job. Because that is mean and insensitive. Because I know how lucky I am to have one. But I am allowed to have bad weeks sometimes. I am desperate for the weekend to come so I can start a new week next week, but with Jeremy set to study all weekend and my lists and lists of house and yardwork to do, I'm not sure this weekend will allow for a lot of recharging. I guess I just need to make it to Dallas next weekend!

3. I'm going to now tell you all a fun little story about drunk drivers and HPD. On May 30 (yes, that's 3 weeks ago), Jeremy was out with some friends at our favorite little bar on Washington. When he went to leave around 1:45am, he noticed the drivers' side mirror was knocked off. Then he realized the truck in front of him had a broken axle and saw further down Washington was an car that had clearly flipped. (It was rightside up but was scratched all on the roof.) He came to find out this kid was drunk, driving down Washington with 3 female passengers (also drunk), and knocked along several cars parked on the street. I guess he hit the truck's rear wheel with such force that it flipped his car and they skidded down the street. No one was hurt, thank goodness. I'm so glad Jeremy wasn't getting into the car at the same time! The HPD officers took down Jeremy and the truck's info, including address, phone number, and insurance information. He asked about getting the drunk kid's insurance information, but the cop informed him the kid was going straight to jail, he was pretty out of it now, and all that would be on the police report. No big deal right?

Well, the police report was not available for TEN business days because it was a major accident. I called HPD every day to check. Finally last Friday (day 10), Jeremy got a call from the truck's insurance company saying they had the report but the drunk's phone number was not legible. Knowing the report was now available, I called HPD but for whatever reason they could not email or fax the report to me. It was in the file, so I could come downtown to get it. Really?? Luckily, there is a website you can purchase reports from and after some creative searching I found it and purchased it for $7.50. The kid's number looked legible enough to me but sure enough the number I thought it was, wrong number. Awesome. Guess what else isn't on the police report? His insurance information. Great!

Being the nosy little researcher I am, I looked up his address on HCAD, which is in Spring and I'm guessing is his mom's house, and found a listing. Then I googled his mom's name and found what might have been a home phone number. You better believe I called it and left a message, but the machine message is automated, so I have no way of knowing if it was the right person. And of course I have not received a call back. I guess our only other option right now is to contact the HPD officer (who of course only works from 11pm - 7am). I have the kid's name, drivers license number, car make/model/year, VIN number, just not a phone or insurance company! But now cops can determine if you're insured when they pull you over just by running your plates (or something like that, I think) so I am hoping maybe an officer can do the same for me just to get that information. Or, surely if the punk was in jail they have some accurate contact information for him. His address is also happens to be in Spring, where I grew up, and I have half a mind to hand-deliver a letter requesting insurance or payment to fix our mirror AND to reimburse me $7.50 for the stupid police report. It is just beyond irritating. And as it turns out, we should have just paid to fix the car ourselves right away instead of waiting around because I am still driving without a mirror. Awesome.

RIP Audi mirror

4. I JUST BOUGHT BRITNEY SPEARS TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wednesday, September 16 Amanda and I will be there to witness the Circus! THIS MAKES ME WEEK SO MUCH BETTER!